The Newtown Board of Education will be asking the town to make room for more armed police officers in its budget.

In a meeting Thursday, the board voted to request the town to add full time uniformed school resource officers to its four elementary school s for the next fiscal year was approved this evening.
The officers would be Newtown police officers.

“Our parents are demanding of us that things are made safe and secure and certain measures areput in place,” said Chairwoman Debbie Leidlein. “So we’re being very thoughtful.”

Multiple police officers have been stationed at all Newtown schools since the December 14th shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary killed twenty children and 6 teachers. Those officers will remain at the school through the remainder of the school year. For the next fiscal year, resource officers were budgeted only to be at Middle and High Schools.

Parents say security involves more than a police presence. “My main concern is with accessibility to these school, said Neil Johnson, a parent of two Newtown students. “On december 14th that was the main bare-boned reason that occurred.”

“After what happened in our community, i just think we should go over and above and provide a shining example for the rest of the world and protect our kids,” said resident Donna Lorenz.
Members of the Board of Education will be meeting Friday with state and federal officials on securing additions funding for school security.

There's a difference between having a police officer, having an armed guard, and having armed staff. Having cops stationed at schools is not a bad idea, assuming it can be afforded. As far as I know, there aren't many districts in this country that can take a cop or two off the streets every day for every school there. However, lots of places use off-duty or retired police, with which I have no problem. Almost every time we hear of an armed shooter being stopped, it's by a responding police officer, so sure.

I'm not overjoyed about the idea of armed guards - that is, non-cops - because, well, they're not cops. Security job positions are typically very low-paid jobs with very little training and - even considering that the guard would have classes in how to use a firearm safely - I would not want to entrust the next generation in the hands of people with no experience in crisis management. I recognize that many other disagree with me on this point, which is fine.

Arming teachers is the worst idea. Do we really think it's a good idea to introduce thousands more guns into the schoolyards, in the hands of teachers, a job which is already overworked, underpaid, and highly stressful? How long would it be before aggressive students wrest them from the hands of those teachers? Before a few teachers themselves lose their own shit and open fire? Or before students develop a full-on bunker mentality after having to report to an armed camp every day to learn their times tables?

Adam Lanza, like most spree shooters, was not a criminal - he was a college student who went crazy. The best way to have prevented his shooting would have been if his dumbshit mother wouldn't have kept a roomful of guns in a house where a mental patient lived; same goes for Kip Kinkel in Oregon in 1998 and Jeffrey Weise on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. The Virginia Tech shooting would have been best prevented if the mental patient hadn't been allowed to buy all of those guns; similarly for Jared Laughner and James Holmes. The Columbine shooting wouldn't have happened if their straw purchasers hadn't been able to get all of their guns at the gun show and that incredibly seedy gun merchant (also, if their parents had been awake). The Fort Hood shooter bought thousand-dollar handguns with 30-round clips with no red flags raised.

These all could have been prevented, but in a lot of different ways. Arming teachers isn't one of them.

We already trust teachers and school staff with the safety of our children for ~7 hours a day, 5 days a week. But not with a gun. That's what doesn't make any sense.

There's a difference between having a police officer, having an armed guard, and having armed staff. Having cops stationed at schools is not a bad idea, assuming it can be afforded. As far as I know, there aren't many districts in this country that can take a cop or two off the streets every day for every school there. However, lots of places use off-duty or retired police, with which I have no problem. Almost every time we hear of an armed shooter being stopped, it's by a responding police officer, so sure.

I'm not overjoyed about the idea of armed guards - that is, non-cops - because, well, they're not cops. Security job positions are typically very low-paid jobs with very little training and - even considering that the guard would have classes in how to use a firearm safely - I would not want to entrust the next generation in the hands of people with no experience in crisis management. I recognize that many other disagree with me on this point, which is fine.

Arming teachers is the worst idea. Do we really think it's a good idea to introduce thousands more guns into the schoolyards, in the hands of teachers, a job which is already overworked, underpaid, and highly stressful? How long would it be before aggressive students wrest them from the hands of those teachers? Before a few teachers themselves lose their own shit and open fire? Or before students develop a full-on bunker mentality after having to report to an armed camp every day to learn their times tables?

.

As a criminal, which scenario sounds scariest:
(1) Going on a shooting spree and having to deal with one policeman or guard.
(2) Going on a shooting spree and having to deal with 10-40 armed faculty?

My whole point is this, this shit will end because these kooks are cowards and don't want resistance. Not one teacher has to actually be carrying to stop these kooks. The idea of armed resistance will keep them away.

Also, if a teacher does decide to carry, it doesn't have to be an AK strapped to their back. Each teacher would carry/conceal so only they and the principal/vice-principal/etc... would know who's armed. From the kids point, everything looks the same.